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Sunday, August 7, 2016

Trump hit by defections after a week-long Trumpocalypse

As Donald Trump took to the stage at the KI Convention Centre in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday, there was one face notably missing from the crowd. Scott Walker, the popular state governor found an excuse to be elsewhere ... he was visiting victims of a flood.

It was more than just a passing, isolated snub. The Trump campaign has just had its worst week to date, with Trump creating so many problems for himself that some Republican establishment figures are begging him to drop out of the race. Trump appeared to be changing tack by design. He succumbed to party pressure to endorse the re-election campaign of House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan. But Trump made it clear he was reading from a script. He then gave another scripted ­endorsement of senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, others he had berated just last week.

Ryan was openly critical of Trump on local radio as relations between Trump and the Republican Party machine sank to new lows. Party chairman Reince Priebus was said to be “stressed” and “very frustrated” by Trump’s increas­ingly erratic behaviour.

Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, legitimized Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and suggested he will renege on America’s commitments to NATO. “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr Putin had recruited Mr Trump as an agent of the Russian Federation,” wrote Michael Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA.

Military concerns are pushing Republican politicians to distance themselves. New York congressman Richard Hanna became the first serving Republican to state clearly that he would vote for Clinton. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, also ruled out a vote for Mr Trump. “I’m an American before I’m a Republican”.

“He’s crossed so many red lines that a commander-in-chief or a candidate for commander-in-chief should never cross.”